MONTREAL – Tom Lawlor once again committed himself to viral infamy, and even before a UFC weigh-in or walkout.

The man who’s impersonated Art Jimmerson, Harold Howard and Dan Severn this time fought a Sumo match, complete with costumes, at UFC 154’s open workouts on Thursday.

But yes, in case you were wondering, he’s taking his fight with Francis Carmont (19-7 MMA, 3-0 UFC) seriously.

“This is a chance for me to go out there and show that I belong in the upper echelon of guys in the UFC at middleweight,” Lawlor (8-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) said afterward on a platform set up at the New City Gas dance club in Montreal. “Barring a few mistakes or bumps in the road I’ve had along the way, I feel great about this fight, and I feel like this is my time to shine, not his.”

Lawlor said this while still wearing his Sumo bottom, which was actually a pair of Depends he purchased the day before in Montreal. A partially soiled pair of Depends, he said, as the store where he had bought them didn’t have a bathroom.

Seriously.

“Yesterday, we were walking around looking for his entrance stuff, and we were like, ‘Oh, we’ve still got to figure out something for the open workouts,'” Seth Petruzelli, Lawlor’s longtime training partner and one-third of the Sumo crew, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I’m like, ‘What about Sumos? We can literally just get Depends right next door at a CVS.’ So we went walking around at two different places asking the people for adult diapers, and they’re looking at us like we’re crazy.”

Of course, they’re used to that look. Lawlor and Petruzelli once entered an arena to “Who Let the Dogs Out” with Petruzelli playing Lawlor’s dog. Their hijinks have made them virtual celebrities on Internet message boards, an inside joke for hardcore fans. When Lawlor fights, serious always mixes with silly.

Petruzelli, though, bristled at the thought that either of them isn’t deeply invested in the outcome of Saturday’s fight, which serves on the FX-televised portion of the pay-per-view event at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

“Look, our records stand for themselves,” he said. “He’s winning fights; I’m winning my last couple of fights. Just because we like to have fun and goof off doesn’t mean we’re not serious about fighting. There’s so much seriousness and testosterone going around. It eases the stress a little bit doing this stuff.”

And Lawlor was serious about Carmont, who’s won his past three fights.

“In his three performances so far in the UFC, he’s looked impressive,” he said. “I have more UFC wins than he has UFC fights. So I have more impressive performances than he does in the UFC. So how come nobody’s asking me about that?

“He might be on an eight-fight win streak, but not all of that has been in the UFC. There’s no telling who some of these other guys are. They could have been garbagemen in their spare time, or guys cleaning the bathroom at the local Second Cup.”

That means Lawlor, who’s 4-3 inside the octagon, could get a significant career boost with a victory. He said he asked for the fight.

So maybe there’s a little more stress than usual.

Wearing diapers waxed that for the meantime. Lawlor, Petruzelli, and strength and conditioning coach Kyle Holland opened the Sumo match with a toss of salt (which had been stolen from a local restaurant) to please the UFC gods, and did a few squats before pairing off and running at each other. Manager Chris Palmquist acted as the mock referee. The Sumos took slapstick spills to the canvas.

Thirty yards away, Martin Kampmann answered questions on the platform as a scrum of reporters tried not to split focus.

The two used to be full-time training partners, but Lawlor this relocated to Providence, R.I, past year for a change of scenery. Petruzelli still flew north to help Lawlor train for Carmont, and he expected his friend to return the favor several months later when he began training for the Bellator Season 8 light-heavyweight tournament.

After watching footage on Carmont’s three octagon appearances, Lawlor said the biggest unknown heading into the fight is whether his opponent uses his size and strength to compensate for other deficiencies.

“I’ve seen some things where he made mistakes in the fight, and guys weren’t able to capitalize,” he said. “But he’s also really good at capitalizing on others mistakes.

“Maybe he’ll come out there and start doing capoeira or tae bo and throw me off, but I think I have enough video to feel comfortable in this fight.”

Lawlor was tightlipped about his plans for the weigh-ins and walkout, which, of course, warrant their own possible routines and costumes. His first choice for walkout music, the theme from “Team America: World Police,” was shot down, likely because of the f-bombs featured in its refrain. He said his second choice probably wouldn’t offend any Canadians. Probably.

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